Tracing Carbon Sequestration in Northern Peatland Climate Archives
06.08.2009 - Land & Geology, Ice & Snow, Flora & Fauna, Other, Arctic
A new study conducted by the NASA Goddard Institute of Space Studies shows moisture shifts in the Alaskan sub-Arctic region took place over the past 14,000 years. This observed variation is a significant discovery in helping to establish a longer perspective on the role of peatlands as carbon sink over the long-term and the implications this has for climate change.
Northern peatlands are a major carbon sink and play a major role in the global carbon cycle. Understanding whether peatlands have always been the carbon sink they are today is critical for understanding future sinks and sources of carbon. Subarctic Alaskan peatlands are particularly sensitive to climate change; here alterations to the biogeochemical and hydrological cycles are affected by the vegetational shifts taking place.
Results show that peat initiation began on the Kenai Peninsula around 14,000 years ago. As temperatures warmed then cooled and then warmed again at the onset of the Holocene, various kinds of vegetation from shrubs to dwarf birch trees dominated the landscape. Fern (hardened snow crystals) cover on the ground dominated for about 3000 years (11,500-8500 years ago), indicating a period of high moisture on the Kainai, which was followed by a drier interval with high seasonality and enhanced glacial melt on the Kenai.
